Telematics units within vehicles provide subscribers with connectivity to a telematics service provider (TSP). The TSP provides subscribers with an array of services ranging from emergency call handling and stolen vehicle recovery to diagnostics monitoring, global navigation system aided position identification, map services, and turn-by-turn navigation assistance. Telematics units are often provisioned and activated at a point of sale when a subscriber purchases a telematics-equipped vehicle. Upon activation, the telematics unit can be utilized to provide a subscriber with telematics services such as those described herein.
When the vehicle engine is off, for example when a user places the vehicle into an ignition-off mode or an accessory mode, the vehicle battery is still drained by certain vehicle-related operations. For example, in accessory mode, the user can still use infotainment services such as looking at navigation maps or listening to music. Even when the vehicle is in ignition-off mode, the vehicle can be in a powered-down discontinuous-reception (DRx) or standby state (also called a sleep cycle), where a network access device (NAD) of the vehicle still drains the vehicle battery while searching for signal or waiting for a command.
With conventional vehicles, a user does not know the battery charge state of the vehicle while the vehicle is accessory mode or ignition-off mode, and oftentimes users will unnecessarily keep their vehicle engines running out of concern that their usage of telematics-related services or other vehicle functionality will completely drain the battery. Other users may have a problem where they leave their engines off for too long while the vehicle's battery is drained in the accessory mode or the ignition-off mode, and end up in a situation where they cannot start their vehicles due to lack of battery charge. Still other users may inadvertently leave certain vehicle components running (e.g., leaving the lights on) and accidentally drain the vehicle battery while the vehicle is in the accessory mode or the ignition-off mode.
The above body of information is provided for the convenience of the reader. The foregoing describes a suitable environment for which the described system and method are provided, and is not an attempt to review or catalog the prior art.